Remote management platforms exist in which a network administrator can update or modify the local configuration of the host or its associated target machines, such as client computers. In general, configuration updates on known platforms can generally take place using one of two techniques. In existing pull methods, software daemon(s) on the remote machine can check in with a central management server to see if there are any outstanding orders. In existing push methods, the administrator can push orders down to the various daemon(s). In either case, affected machines communicate with a central management server in one direction or the other. The advantage of the push case is that technique is instantaneous, whereas a pull event may only happen once every certain period of time. Multi-node configuration management can therefore benefit from a push system, but similar management could be done on a pull basis, although with slower execution since various steps on different systems are not able to follow immediately after one another.
While platforms of these types can manage the configuration settings of hosts and their associated targets, the updating or management action takes place on a host-by-host basis. Conventional configuration logic as a result is not capable of determining the dependencies necessary for performing an installation or update for applications which span multiple systems. An example is a Web application. Suppose the database for a Web application resides on one machine, while an authentication server resides on another machine, while an associated cost accounting engine resides on a third machine. To install this application one would have to perform actions on all of these machines in a particular order. Existing configuration management systems (such as, e.g., puppet or cfengine) are generally pull based, and are only capable of operating on a specific machine. Those and other existing platforms do not contain the ability to resolve dependencies, and direct one machine to do action X after another machine successfully completes action Y. In conventional platforms, a given host therefore is in general not capable of initiating a configuration update of applications which span multiple other hosts. It may be desirable to provide methods and systems for the remote network management in which a management platform is equipped to automatically generate configuration installations and/or updates, incorporating dependencies and other configuration details.